Rotatable antenna for televisions



INVENTOR.

J1me 1953 M. P. DE CONT] ROTATABLE ANTENNA FOR TELEVISIONS Filed D90. 11, 1948 Patented June 23, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT oi- FicE RQTATABLE ANTENNA FOR TELEVISIONS Maurice P.-De Conti, New Britain, Conn.

Application December 11,1948, Serial No. 64,849

1 Claim. 1

This'invention relates to radio beam antennas, and more particularly to an antenna support which is rotatable, whereby the antenna may be readily turned so as to receive radio signals efficiently from any point of the compass.

One object of this invention is to provide a device of the above nature which is adapted to support an antenna at a high elevation without danger of breaking or overturning.

Another object is to provide a device of the above nature wherein the antenna may be accurately adjusted without backlash and will remain in any position in which it is placed by the operator.

Another object is to provide a device of the above nature wherein the weight of the antenna and its support will be carried by a single thrust bearing adjacent the bottom of the support, whereby complicated foundation structures will be avoided.

A further object is to provide a device of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very efficient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawing one form in which the invention may convenientiy be embodied in practice.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved antenna as it would appear when installed upon a house.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View of the bearing I8, showing portions of the vertical pipe and a guy wire connected to the bearing housing.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral I indicates a directional antenna, which may be of any suitable type, as herein shown comprising a vertical stem I I which is firmly secured upon the upper end of a vertical supporting shaft in the form of a length of metal pipe I2. The shaft or pipe I2 extends downwardly through a roof I3 of a house I l, and is supported thereon by means of a base I5 having a thrust ball hearing or other substantially frictionless bearing I6 secured to the pipe I2.

In order to hold the pipe I2 firmly in vertical position, provision is made of a plurality of ball bearings l1, 18, I9, which are secured at spaced points along said pipe.

The bearings I1 and I8 are braced by means of sets of guy wires 28, 2I, respectively, which are attached to the building structure at suitable spaced points, as shown. The bearing I9 is rigidly secured to one end of the building I4 by means of an angle iron 22 having a U strap 22a which embraces said bearing I 9.

In order to permit the antenna III to be manually turned to any desired point of the compass,

the lower end portion of the pipe I2 is provided with a handle in the form of a cross'piec'e 23 A uniform frictional-restraint upon the rotation of'the pipe I2 isv imposed by means of a set screw/23a which'is mounted inthe angle iron 22 in alignment withjj'saidpipe. Thisrestraint is sufiicient'to prevent accidental turning of the antenna H] in thewind. Inasmuch as the bearings IE, IT, I8, and I9 are substantially frictionless, the frictional restraint provided by the set screw 23a will result in uniform operation of the pipe I2, thus avoiding inaccuracies in the adjustment of the antenna such as might arise from lost motion or resilient twisting of the pipe I2.

The antenna I0 is provided with the usual leadin Wires 24, which are passed inwardly through an aperture 25 in the side of the antenna stem II, and thence downwardly through the pipe I2, and outwardly through an apertured pipe cap 26 below the cross piece 23.

The pipe [2 preferably is grounded by means 0 a wire 21 in order to avoid any accumulation of static electricity thereon, and also permitting said pipe to serve as a lightning rod.

As shown in Fig. 2, the bearing I8 is of the type whichcontains a series of balls 28 confined in grooved inner and outer races 29, 30. The bearing I8 is supported by means of a collar 3| secured to the pipe I2 by a pin 32, and is provided with an inverted housing 33 having an apertured flange 34 for the attachment of the guy wires 2I. It will be understood that the housing 33 is supported upon the stationary outer race 30, and is preferably provided with a weatherproof upper closure in the form of a flanged disk 35 which is sealed to and rotatable with the pipe I2. The bearing II preferably has'a structure identical to the bearing I8.

It will be understood that the directional antenna It may be installed at substantially any desired height, merely by making the pipe I2 of the desired length, and by installing as many spaced bearings, such as the bearings l1, I8, as may benecessary to maintain the pipe I2 firmly in position-all of the bearings being firmly anchored by means of guy wires.

Operation radio signals such as are employed in television and frequency-modulation broadcasting.

The lower end of the lead-in wire 24 will, of course, be connected to a suitable radio receiver, and when tuning the receiver to a particular radio station, it will only be necessary for the operator to rotate the antenna 10 by means of the handle or cross piece 23 until the most efficient reception is obtained.

One advantage of the invention herein disclosed is that the antenna may be easily and accurately adjusted without lost motion or backlash.

Another advantage is that the supporting means for the antenna is relatively inconspicuous, inasmuch as the eflicient bracing afforded by the ball bearings and the guy wires will permit a relatively thin shaft or pipe to be used.

-While there has been disclosed in this specification one form in which the invention may be embodied. it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms, without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all modifications and embodiments coming within the scope 01Ev the following claim.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new. and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

In a. rotatable antenna support, an elongated 4 lightweight slender vertical shaft of flexible material adapted to extend through the roof of a building, a thrust bearing rotatably embracing and supporting said shaft adjacent the lower end thereof, a plurality of bearings arranged at spaced intervals along the length of said shaft for preventing the bending or collapse of said shaft, means secured to said bearings for connection to roof of said building at spaced points around said shaft, an operating handle at the lower end of said shaft, and means located at an intermediate point on the length of said shaft to exert a uniform frictional restraint against accidental rotation thereof.

MAURICE P. DE CONTI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 670,357 Fredrick et a1. Mar. 19, 1901 957,606 Hendricks et al. May 10, 1910 1,169,954 Halliday Feb. 1, 1916 1,420,075 Berge June 20, 1922 1,790,338 Chartoif Jan. 27, 1931 2,446,436 Ronault Aug. 3, 1948 2,474,250 Howard June 28, 1949 

